Activated porous carbon wrapped sulfur sub-microparticles as cathode materials for lithium sulfur batteries

Abstract

The lithium-sulfur batteries holds a high theoretical capacity and specific energy, which is 4-5 times larger than that of today's lithium-ion batteries, yet the low sulfur loading and large particles in the cathode greatly offset its advantage in high energy density. In the present paper, a liquid phase deposition method was introduced to synthesize sub-micro sulfur particles, which utilized as cathode materials after composed with activated porous carbon. Compared with common sublimed sulfur cathodes, as-obtained composite cathode shows an enhanced initial discharge capacity from 840.7 mAh/g to 1093 mAh/g at C/10. The reversible specific capacity after 50 cycles increased from 383 mAh/g to 504 mAh/g. The developed method has the advantages of simple process, convenient operation and low cost, and is suitable for the industrial preparation of lithium/sulfur batteries.